Monster Trophy Whitetails

Top Monster Buck Records

Elisha Hugen

Elisha Hugen with what was the world’s largest eight-pointer when she shot it in the mid-1990s in Iowa. The buck had a net score well over 180 inches. She killed it with a shotgun during a deer drive.

Kevin Halbmaier

Another very impressive basic eight-pointer shot by Kevin Halbmaier in the early 2000s. The buck had a net non-typical score exceeding 219 inches!

Steve Scott and Mark Maynard

Steve Scott and Mark Maynard with two giant bucks. The two hunters are members of the same group of hunters and these bucks were taken about five years apart. Scott’s buck (left) netted over 192 inches while Marynard’s netted over 186 inches. Both scored as typicals.

Record Buck Stories

Todd Graf - 190 monster buck harvest in Illinois

After more than two decades of bowhunting and countless hours spent in pursuit of whitetail deer I finally scored on a true giant. Words can’t even begin to explain the feeling that I still have right now, less than 24 hours after harvesting the biggest buck of my life. Although we haven’t put an official tape to him yet, our rough numbers put him at just over 190”. He truly is the buck of a lifetime!

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Jeffrey Whisker - 191 typical Iowa bow kill

Jeffrey Whisker’s first bow kill turned out to be the buck of a lifetime. Whisker is a rural postman in eastern Iowa and had seen this giant several times the winter before he arrowed the buck. Instead of turning around in a farmer’s driveway and exposing himself to a dangerous blind hill, Whisker drove on past to the top of the hill and turned there.

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Steve Tyer - 194 typical Iowa bow kill

On Thanksgiving Day 1994 everything finally came together. "It was a warm day," Tyer said. "I was about to climb down from my stand after grunting-in several small bucks when deer running across the draw behind me got my attention.

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Russ Clarken - 236 7/8 non-typical Iowa bow kill

"I was driving out to hunt when I saw the monster about 80 yards from the road,” said Clarken. “I went back into town and got my friend and his video camera. We shot several minutes of film before the buck ran off. My hunting area was nearby, so I was full of anticipation as I made my way to my best stand. I didn't see the buck again until one week later, even though I hunted the area every day."

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Stephen Weilert - 193 2/8 typical Kansas bow kill

Dr. Stephen Weilert spent three years in the early 90’s exclusively hunting an unbelievable buck which he swears was a big, clean 8 X 8 with a 30 inch spread. So it was with mixed emotions (if that’s possible) that he released the string on this Kansas state record.

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Jack Schuler - two giant non-typicals

Jack Schuler has hunted the same farms in Iowa for years. Each bow season he looks forward to his weeklong vacation. 1995 brought with it even more anticipation than usual, however. While shotgun hunting the area during the previous year, a huge buck had eluded his party.

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Bill Urbaniak - 180 5/8 typical Minnesota bow kill

Bill Urbaniak, of Hugo, is one of the lucky ones. Eight years ago his cousin invited him to hunt in a good area in the south Minneapolis/St. Paul suburbs. The spot paid off big in 1996 when Bill arrowed an incredible typical on the last day of November.

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John Nylund - 190 3/8 typical Kansas gun kill

Hunting along the fertile Republican river in northern Kansas, John Nylund got to his stand at 4:00 the second afternoon of the season. The stand was located along a thick draw adjacent to a property that was off-limits to hunting. "After sitting for only an hour I heard a deer coming," said Nylund.

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Treve Gray - 211 non-typical Missouri muzzleloader kill

While hunting northern Missouri with a Knight Wolverine during the regular firearms season, Treve Gray took the Missouri state record muzzleloader non-typical. The tree Gray chose for his stand overlooked a narrow bottleneck along a creek bottom joining two large wood lots - a classic Midwestern whitetail ambush.

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Jesse Godwin - 180" Monster Buck

Jesse Godwin of Des Moines has been taking his bowhunting very seriously for about nine years and has been fortunate enough to take a 143’’ buck prior to this season, but this past November his life as a devoted autumn archer changed forever. While it is difficult to mix two passions of any kind, Jesse is also a devoted Hawkeye athletics fan. It doesn’t matter what sport it is, he loves watching the Hawks all year long!